By Gene Schallenberg
If the Huntsville swim team seems like a close-knit group, there’s a good reason.
A lot of the Hornets and Lady Hornets have swam together for a while, but there’s also a family connection.
There are three sets of brother-sister combinations and they have been working hard to get to the state meet. Now, they’re just one step away. On Friday and Saturday, all 11 of Huntsville’s swimmers will compete in the Region V meet in Magnolia with a chance at qualifying for the state meet, which will be held on Feb. 26 and 27 in Austin.
Preliminaries will take place Friday morning and the finals will be Saturday morning.
While Sierra Wagner, her twin brother, Jaron, and Colson Slaven will be competing in individual events, they know their biggest fans will be close by. Just like the Wagners, Slaven has his sister, Megan, on the swim team as well as the other sibling pair, Marsh and Missy Miller to root them on.
“(My brother and I) are family, but everybody else is like family, too,” said Megan Slaven, who will compete for Huntsville in the relay races, on Monday afternoon. “You’re always cheering each other on. The good thing about having a brother on the team is that you always try to build each other up. It’s a good thing.”
“I like having him there,” Missy Miller said of her brother, Marsh. “He’s one of the captains. It’s good to know that he’s there. He supports me and I want to try my best.”
One of the benefits to having so many sibling pairs on the team is that they keep each other accountable, which makes things easier for coach Karol K. Smith.
“I like being on the same team as my brother because we make each other want to be better,” Sierra Wagner said. “We have a little competition whenever we race. We’re always trying to do a little better than each other.”
“They know one another so well,” Smith said. “They regulate each other and encourage each other to do more.
“It’s nice. It provides a real family atmosphere. They really support one another. You don’t see that in a lot of other sports.”
Having siblings on the team has also helped instill a competitive spirit that is apparant during meets.
“You just want to try your hardest. This is what we’ve been working this whole year for,” Jaron Wagner said.
Sierra and Jaron Wagner will be competing in the 200-yard freestyle. Matthew Bitara, who finished first in the district meet in both events, will swim the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke.
Shelby Beverly and Colson Slaven will swim the 50-yard freestyle.
Beverly and Jeremy Klespis will compete in the 100-yard freestyle.
The Wagners will also swim the 100 backstroke. Colson Slaven will compete in the 100-yard butterfly.
Rachel Krohn, Missy Miller, Megan Slaven, Ashton McDonald and Marsh Miller will also swim in the relay races.
“It’s great. We’re just wanting to do well and give swimming a good name,” Colson Slaven said. “A lot of people think it’s easy, but it’s not. We’ve been swimming all year and we’re ready to make Huntsville proud.
